Roller

Roller, any bird of the Picarian family Coraciidae, chiefly confined to the Ethiopian and Oriental regions, and absent from ttie western hemisphere. The bill is long, broad at the base, and compressed towards the tip, and slightly hooked and notched. There are three genera, with nineteen species. The Common Roller (C. garrula) "spreads over the Palaearctic region as far. north as Sweden and the Altai Mountains," and occasionally visits Britain. It is about a foot long, and the general plumage is blue, with a mantle of chestnut-brown. The name "Roller" refers to the habit of the male of turning somersaults in the air in the breeding season.